reality-distortion field

An online business expression that describes the persuasive ability of CEOs like Steve Jobs. This phrase originated at Apple in the 1980's to describe his peculiar charisma.

It implies that workers who are close to these kinds of managers become passionately committed to possibly insane projects, without regard to the practicality of their implementation or competitive forces in the marketpace. For example, "In Steve's presence, reality is malleable, it's a total reality-distortion field. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules."